THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by tonight’s race winner, Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.
Q. You know your fuel situation, but as these overtimes are happening and the restarts are happening, in your head are you thinking, this is a chance for us to be optimistic and maybe get a win, or are you resigned to the fact that hey, we’re probably going to run out because there’s no way we can stretch it this far?
JOEY LOGANO: Honestly, I don’t know the numbers and what’s going on. I laughed because Paul asked me what — like what I thought, and I said, I don’t know. I don’t have the computer in front of me. We had a laugh about it.
Yeah, this one just takes the whole crew to do it. When you think about the engine itself with Roush Yates, building the engine, obviously they can make some good mileage; Nick Hensley, our gas man, packing that thing full, that was key; Paul having the cojones to leave me out there, big. Our engineers calculating everything.
I don’t think we felt too good about it as far as the last restart. I felt good when we came off of 4 and was able to clear Briscoe. I thought, okay, I was in good shape. Going to take the white off of 4 and then they threw the caution. I still don’t know what the caution was for.
Then we had to do it again. Had to not only do the fuel mileage piece of it, but also you had Reddick with tires there at the end, and he was able to make some pretty big moves, and going down the backstretch it started stumbling. I was like, oh, no. Was able to throw a nice block on him, but even off of 4, it stumbled and stumbled, and then it kind of got like a quick little bit of gas, I guess, and it kind of gave me a little squirt and then started stumbling again across the line and just couldn’t get to the line quick enough. If that start-finish line was into 1, we don’t win the race; we finish third or fourth.
Definitely as close as you can cut it for sure.
Q. How do you go 110 laps here on one tank of fuel?
JOEY LOGANO: I don’t know. Like I said, it takes a little bit of everything. I think that’s really what it was. There was obviously a lot of cautions within that period. A lot of cautions. Like I said, we didn’t feel comfortable about it, but you go for it, and it’s pretty risky when you think about where we were in the playoff grid. You really can’t afford to have a bad one, but gosh, it’s really hard to pit when you’re in the lead and you’re in position to win the race.
You just go for it and cross your fingers, say a couple prayers, and it worked out all right.
Q. Walk me through that last overtime restart because I believe Tyler had pitted in overtime and he was coming in a bit hard on the last lap. Walk me through the final corner specifically as far as the defensive maneuver you made to keep Reddick behind you, and how concerned were you about opening up the bottom for the 71 car in that scenario?
JOEY LOGANO: Yeah. You know, I saw going into 1 that Tyler must have had a great restart. I don’t really know the strategy of what worked out for them or not, but when he was within a car length into 1, I was like, geez, I’m going to have to block this pretty hard. And off of 2, I thought, okay, I’m good, 71 clamped him. I was able to side draft him down the backstretch, and I feel pretty good. Then I went down the backstretch and it started spitted and sputtering, and I was like, oh, no, not good. Had to throw another block on Reddick.
Then off of 4, it’s kind of hard to say which lane to go for. But I definitely felt like I couldn’t led Reddick get to my outside because it would have been over. So I definitely had to pick a car to block, and Reddick was the fastest car. He was going to win the race. I had a fighting chance to beat the 71. Definitely felt like it was an easy decision on which one to throw the dirty on.
Q. You mentioned the car sputtering. With as close as the 45 and the 71 were to you, did that create an interesting situation where normally if you make that kind of maneuver, you think, okay, great, I’ll come off Turn 4, checkered flag and win. Did that create a situation where you didn’t feel like you were really secure in having won until the last 100 yards or so?
JOEY LOGANO: Oh, yeah. It felt like a superspeedway win to me because you don’t know until you get to the start-finish line. I went bonkers in the car.
You think about this playoff scenario that we were in, being on that cutoff spot, man, it sucks. It’s not fun. That pressure is real, and you don’t sleep good. You’re constantly thinking about it. It’s nice to be able to get this win to where you can take the next seven weeks to be able to — not take a breather but be able to at least sleep a little bit and start thinking about the playoffs as much as the next few races.
When you think about Chicago coming up next week and you’re on the cutoff spot, not a comfortable spot to be. Just the timing of this one couldn’t have been better.
Q. Playing off the last question, you go to North Wilkesboro, total domination. You’re pumped about that. That’s a great way to win, just drill them, pound them in the ground. What’s the emotions in winning a race like this that a lot of us stand around and go, how did he do that, sort of like the magicians or the guy that stole one and got away in the getaway car?
JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, it kind of feels a little bit like that. I’d say at Wilkesboro, it was more of a relief when we won, whereas this was just pure excitement, because let’s be honest, we were mediocre today. We weren’t the fastest car by no means. But Paul’s strategy worked really, really well throughout most of the race, and we just stayed aggressive the whole day, and it worked out.
Q. On that final restart, what did you think your chances were of making it, going that far? Were you just set on I’m just going to do what I’m going to do, or was there anything in the back of your mind, this little seed going, I don’t know, man, we’ve stretched our luck pretty far here?
JOEY LOGANO: Paul said I had like three laps to the good before the restart before that one, and then we ran a lap and caution came out, and I’m like, well, geez, there was one, and I’ve got to pace and clean my tires off and then go again. I didn’t feel good about it; I can tell you that much.
But you just, like I said, cross your fingers, say a prayer, and hope there’s just enough gas in it. But I’m telling you what: There wasn’t a drop to spare.
I’ve never won a fuel mileage race before, something that close. That was a neat thing to do.
Q. Have you ever been involved in a more unlikely finish at a race that you won like this?
JOEY LOGANO: Not that comes to mind. Nothing that comes to mind that was like that. Yeah, like I said, just a big one. Something that’s cool, too, is the last eight weekends, Team Penske has put a car in Victory Lane across all the series that they race. We were the only ones that could do it this weekend because we were the only ones running. It was close, but it was cool to keep that streak alive for everyone at the race shop.
Q. You talked about the points a little bit. Do you feel like with your season in the balance, if you run out of gas, maybe you don’t make the playoffs?
JOEY LOGANO: That’s the risk that was to me a ginormous risk because you’re taking what — I mean, you pit and you go back out and you maybe can finish in the top 15, maybe, versus going for the win, but you can finish 35th. Makes it a pretty hard call.
But gosh, when you’re winning the race, how do you not? Especially when you see the other cars that were up there, Chase Briscoe, he wins, that wouldn’t have been good for our playoff hopes. It would have been good for Ford, but that would have been it.
I think the 23 was somewhat close up there, as well. When you think about who we were racing against, we needed to make sure that we were able to at least stay on the strategy the same as they were.
Q. Obviously you might be biased since you won, but is five overtimes okay? Would six overtimes be okay? Seven overtimes be okay? They’ve changed the rules occasionally to where there was a limit; now there’s no limit. Where did you stand on that before tonight, and did tonight change your mind at all?
JOEY LOGANO: I mean, it obviously got pretty — anytime you have your cars running out of gas, there’s a caution and you get going, they wreck because everyone is out of gas and all that, you’re refiring on old tires, everyone is sliding around, gosh, you kind of can see it coming a little bit.
But gosh, I don’t know what you — I think you just keep doing it. I don’t know. That’s the rule. You keep doing it.
Q. Can you talk about your history here and to win this type of race at this facility which you’ve got a long history here where you kind of started out here and all that you’ve been through, and for a win like this to come through with all you’ve been through here?
JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, shoot, I remember sitting in here passing a tornado years and years ago for an Xfinity weekend. So to come back here — I spent so much time here testing as a kid. I came here every other week for a couple day tests.
Definitely a lot of memories when I pull into this racetrack. Really neat to be able to come back and get the second guitar. They’re really special trophies. It’s one of the most iconic trophies in motorsports. Everyone wants the Nashville Gibson guitar.
I was lucky enough to get one of the Sam Bass ones, which obviously no one will ever have again, so that’s a real special one, but this one is really neat, as well.
Q. Did your knowledge of the track help at all?
JOEY LOGANO: Man, it’s been so many years. I’m talking about this stuff that was like 16, 17 years ago. A lot of things have changed since then.
Q. I saw that precious moment with you and your daughter, and I know she’s such a daddy’s girl, but she’s finally at an age where she understands this, and it’s been a while since you’ve been to Victory Lane, so how special was that moment?
JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, that was the first time I’ve had all three kids here for a win. Hudson was in Wilkesboro, which was cool, and when we won the championship, Hudson was there, but Jameson and Emilia have never been to Victory Lane before. Really neat to have them in their Ninja Turtle jammies, and I’m pretty sure Mom must have woke them up for the event or maybe they stayed up at least for the end.
But gosh, it means the world to me. I love my family so much. I’d do anything for them, obviously like any good parent would.
But celebrating together, that’s kind of the tear-jerker moment for me because it’s not just the drivers doing this stuff. The commitment — you guys know because you guys travel, as well, but the commitment that it takes to be a professional athlete, the time it takes away from your family. We talked about the stress that you try to shut it off when you come home, but you really can’t all the time. Some of it goes through your mind a lot.
It’s a grind for everybody. More times than not, my wife is raising those kids, three of them, on her own. It’s just the life that we have. It’s like that for everybody that’s traveling out here.
To have the moment, to be able to have that, was very, very special for me, one that I’ll remember forever.
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